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TRAVELS OF EHRENMALM. 359
perfed, by the time we had paffed the orf, or current of Wolkfio, We then beheld,
on the lake of that name, a kind of rain-bow, a thoufand paces from us. ‘The air was
calm and ferene, the fun brilliant; and the waters fo clear, that we could diftinGly fee
the gravel, flints, coarfe and fine fand, of a brown and grey colour, at the depth of two
fathoms.
At a mile from Wolkfio, is feen a mountain feparated from the others. It isa fingu-
larity like the phenomenon of the rain-bow, feen on the lake in ferene weather, We
crofled this lake at the width of a quarter of a league, and after travelling for about a
mile and a half, we arrived at Te/t-Sio-Arne. From the parifh of Afehle, to’ this laft
place, there are eighteen currents, falls, or fheets of water to crofs, in afcending the
Anghermanna. ‘This river rifes in the mountains of Koultfofiall and Biorkfall, t
receives the river of Marsfiall, and many fmall lakes and rivulets; it even traverfes the
lakes of Malgomai and Wolkfio. It is fo increafed by the tribute of all thefe waters,
that in many places it is from a quarter of a mile to a league in width. It then glides
flowly and forms by its dormant waters, what are called Seh/es. But in proportion as
it grows narrower, it dafhes over the obftacles it meets, and falls with fo violent a noife,
that in calm weather it may be heard at the diltance of two miles. What a country is
this; merely a defert where are only beheld mountains without cultivation, without
any trace of human induftry, nor fcarcely of life and fenfation; where even in the
feafon of life, when nature revives, no noife is heard but that of cataraéts, which roaring
from afar behind hideous rocks, feen to environ the traveller whom they threaten,
fometimes to approach him, fometimes to follow him! Miferable indeed if he were
alone ; all the horrors of a deluge, all the images of the Styx, with its nine great wind-
ings, would affail his trembling foul. ‘Then would he experience thofe involuntary
terrors which gave birth to the {peétres of fuperftition, and as if fantaftic beings were
neceflary, to affitt him to ftruggle againft nature. Man alone, furrounded by dan-
ger and objects of terror beholds the face of nature ina different view. Every thing
then becomes a demon, every thing a deity. He invokes the {tone againft the roaring
torrent ; as he approaches the fource of his fears, they multiply ; his mind is difturbed,
his knees totter, his eyes roll, all his fenfes are difordered ; and if he,difcover not the
caufe of his fear, his reafon for ever finks into unfathomable obfcurity, into everlafting
night.
I have feen the peafants of Afehle afcend this river with their boats ; when they ap.
proached a rock, land and draw thefe light fkiffs againft the current, with all the cou-
rage and adroitnefs which arife from a long habitude. But they are not equal to the:
Laplanders in this laborious and difficult art.
‘The Laplanders have boats, the keel of which one fathom long at bottom, extends
to two fathoms upwards. It is large, flat, and equally pointed at bothends, The ribs
are very narrow. ‘There are three or four ofatolerable length on each-fide ; they are
covered or doubled with fir planks, which. have been cut with the hatchet. Thefe
planks two lines thick, are joined with the finews of the rein-deer, or faftened wth
ropes from the root ofthe fir. It will be feen by this defcription how brittle thefe little
boats are; aman might break them with his hand: if he placed his foot on the fides of
the boat, on entering, the timber would crack. A: boat only contains the rower feated
at one end, and the paflenger at the other, to-keep it in equilibrium. A: bow! of the
bark of the birch-tree, to bale out the water which enters at the joints, cracks, and even
the pores of the wood ; two oars, and a hatchet form the whole cargo of the little
boat.. :
A But
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